Daejeon: The opening game of the new Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason series between the Hanwha Eagles and the Samsung Lions was rained out Friday. The first game of this best-of-five second-round series was set to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Eagles' home, Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark, in the central city of Daejeon. However, clear skies turned into showers around 5 p.m., leading the ground crew to cover the field with a tarp. At 6:28 p.m., the league announced the postponement of the game to 2 p.m. Saturday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this marks the third game of this postseason to be affected by rainy weather. The winner of this series will move on to the Korean Series against the top seed LG Twins. Consequently, the start of the championship round has been delayed from Oct. 25 to Oct. 26.
As the fourth seed, the Lions had to emerge victorious in the wild card round against the NC Dinos and then defeat the SSG Landers in four games to reach the second round. Meanwhile, the Eagles, who finished the regular season with the second-best record, received a bye to the second round and have not played since their final regular-season game on Oct. 3.
The Eagles announced that they will proceed with right-hander Cody Ponce as their starter for Saturday's game. Ponce is a leading regular-season MVP candidate after securing the Triple Crown in his first KBO season. The right-hander led the league with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA, and a league-record 252 strikeouts. Ponce lost only one game and set the record for the longest winning streak by a pitcher from the start of a season with 17 straight wins.
The Lions will counter with right-hander Gerson Garabito on the mound Saturday, sticking to their original plan. Garabito joined the Lions in June, replacing Denyi Reyes in the rotation. In 15 starts, the right-hander recorded a 4-4 win-loss record with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 84 batters over 78 1/3 innings. He delivered two scoreless outings against the Eagles during the regular season, holding them to one hit over five shutout innings in his KBO debut on June 26 and then scattering five singles over six scoreless frames on July 29.